1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:19,080 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I am Dramas and this is the Street 2 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, bringing New York daily dose of timeless stoic 3 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: philosophy remixed for the hip hop generation. Now, with that 4 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: in mind, let's get things started with your daily shot 5 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: of inspiration. Now today with me focusing on the stoic 6 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: idea of diminishing your ego right, not allowing your ego 7 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: to rule you. I highly recommend the book Ego Is 8 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,599 Speaker 1: the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. Absolutely incredible stuff. Has been 9 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: super helpful for me and man coming to terms with 10 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: some of the things that my ego was was leading 11 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: me on. And we'll get into into all of that, 12 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: but I want to first start here with the words 13 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: of one of the goats in my opinion, Nipsey Hustle. 14 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: And this isn't from a actual song, this is actually 15 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: an excerpt from an interview that he did. Now, I 16 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: just found this to be incredibly prolific, these words I mean, 17 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: which obviously with nip everything he says feels feels that way, 18 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: but specifically this one, and how humble he was. So 19 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: the interviewer asked him, are you the smartest person on 20 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: your team? And Nipsey responded with definitely not. I might 21 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: be the dumbest, And here you're you're looking at someone who, 22 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,320 Speaker 1: you know, it's looked up to by thousands of people, 23 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: if not millions, Right, And he's being humble enough to 24 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: admit that he doesn't know everything, right, And I think 25 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: there's no mistake to view this quality as a major key, 26 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: you know, for the success set that Nip had, Right, Like, 27 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: he's actually even going a step further and and giving 28 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: credit to the people around them, right, crediting them for 29 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: actually knowing more than he does, you know. And I 30 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: think it also speaks to him being unafraid to surround 31 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: himself with people who are in fact smarter than him, right, 32 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,919 Speaker 1: because he understands that having these types of people who 33 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: know more than him that he can constantly learn from, 34 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: they give him the best shot at achieving his version 35 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: of greatness. Right. He's checking his ego and his status 36 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: as like this successful rapper and entrepreneur, and he's saying, 37 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: I have so much more to learn, which I think 38 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: is incredibly powerful and again speaks to why Nip was 39 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: able to accomplish so much in such a short period 40 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: of time. Right. And then this lends itself perfectly to 41 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: a quote from one of the stoics, Epictetious, and he says, 42 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: if you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless 43 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: or stupid. Right. And this is incredibly powerful because you know, 44 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: in society we are taught to, you know, show up 45 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: as our best, and we have these fears of of 46 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: looking dumb and being left at right, and we end 47 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: up stunting our own growth as a result, Right, because 48 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: we oftentimes we don't ask for the help that we need, 49 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: or we take the easy route, when in reality, you know, 50 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: we are are surrounded hopefully by a plethora of knowledge 51 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: that we can be learning from. Right. I think we've 52 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: all been guilty of being too proud to ask for help, right, Uh, 53 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: too proud to look foolish in a particular situation. And 54 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: I can relate to that man in so many different 55 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: ways throughout the course of my life. I think I've 56 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: been incredibly hardheaded and wanting to figure things out on 57 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: my own and and never wanted to show any sort 58 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: of weakness, right, wanting to come across as I always 59 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: had it figured out, because I was scared that if 60 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: somebody saw me as as not knowing, they would be 61 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: trying to take advantage of me, or they would you know, 62 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: attack my credibility. But I think for me, I've I've 63 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: been able to check that in various points of my life, 64 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: and I can look back on them and recognize how 65 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: powerful they were for me. I think for me, particularly 66 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: one of the moments that I think about where I was, 67 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: I was really able to kind of check my ego 68 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: and understand the bigger picture and have the patience to 69 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: understand the bigger picture. That was with the Breakfast Club, 70 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: you know, where I worked for almost four years, you know, 71 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: as a as a board operator and producer. For me, 72 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: when I took that job, I was, you know, already 73 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: on air in Connecticut. I had other job opportunities that 74 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: potentially was going to explore as far as being an 75 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: on air personality. But I saw the potential growth that 76 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: could happen from being behind the scenes and being able 77 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: to sit back and soak up all this free game 78 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: from the legends that that hosted that show, and I 79 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: chose to kind of make that my focus to go 80 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: that route. And that's what I did. You know, those 81 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: years that I was there, I was learning and I 82 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: was asking questions, but it all required me to be 83 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: a bit humble, you know, required me to to check 84 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 1: my ego and understand that yes, of course I want 85 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: to be my own you know personality. One day, I 86 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: want to host my own show, but I can't, you know, 87 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: sit here trying to rush into that and give up 88 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: the opportunity to learn, you know, man knowledge and and 89 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: learn you know, from these these legends. You know that 90 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,799 Speaker 1: is is something that money cannot buy, right, that first 91 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: hand experience, the ability to ask questions, to be sitting 92 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: in the room for legendary moments and being able to 93 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: pick them apart and create the type of things that 94 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: I want from them from the lessons that I learned, 95 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: you know. And that's exactly what I did moving forward. 96 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: You know, when I decided to leave and launch my podcast. 97 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: You know, I took all that information that I learned 98 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: from there, you know, the good or the bad, and 99 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: I decided to apply that towards what I did moving forward. 100 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: And it's been an incredible journey, you know. I mean, 101 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: here we are launching my my second podcast, right and 102 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: all the other opportunities that have happened as a result 103 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: of the knowledge that I learned, taking a backseat and 104 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: being patient and understanding that one day I will have 105 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,480 Speaker 1: my time, but right now I need to take this 106 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: moment that that money can't buy and sit back and 107 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: learn something and check my ego at the door. Now 108 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: you've heard from one of my favorites, Nipsey Hustle. You've 109 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: heard from one of the stoics, Epetitious. We've talked about 110 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: how I've personally been able to apply this at different 111 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: points in my life. Now, with that in my let's 112 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: talk about how you can make it your mantra for today. 113 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: But first it's take a quick break and then we'll 114 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: be right back. All right, So you have heard the 115 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: words of Nipsey Hustle, you have heard from Epictetus. I 116 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: have given you my story. Now let's talk about this idea, 117 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: how you can apply the principle of diminishing your ego 118 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: to your own life. How you can make it your 119 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,359 Speaker 1: mantra for today. Now, I think it it all starts 120 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: with adapting a mindset that embraces being dumb. And I 121 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: know that sounds counterproductive, and it sounds like everybody's worse 122 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: fear right being embarrassed or looking dumb. But I really 123 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: think that when you allow yourself to be okay with that. 124 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: When you adapt this mindset of of no longer viewing, 125 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: you know, looking foolish as as something to be ashamed of, 126 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: but instead of realizing that this is where growth happens. 127 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: I really think that's when you start to move forward 128 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,599 Speaker 1: in your life in ways that you could have never imagined. Right, Like, 129 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: we have to stop placing so much value on being right, 130 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: but instead placing value and searching for the areas that 131 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: that we can look at and say, you know, where 132 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: is there a lesson to be learned in this? Right? 133 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: It's about getting very conscious of your ego and keeping 134 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: in place, you know. I mean that's something I've been 135 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: working incredibly hard at. I mean I talked about, you know, 136 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: my my journey on the Breakfast Club. But I think 137 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: even in practical life, you know, I've I've always been 138 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: the type of person when someone you know, asked me, oh, 139 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: have you heard of this? Or are you know what 140 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: I'm talking about? Right, We've all had, you know, some 141 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: sort of thing where somebody sort of testing you, and 142 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: I would kind of play along and pretend like I 143 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: knew what they were talking about. You know, I didn't 144 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: want to look foolish or out of the loop. And 145 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: I've been making it a practice to kind of swallow 146 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: my pride a bit and and feel that shame and 147 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: embarrassment and just say no, you know, if I don't 148 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: know it, no, what is it? Explained it to me? 149 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: And while you have that moment of quick shame or 150 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: quick embarrassment, you know, at the end of it, you're 151 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: happy because you learned about something that you never knew before. 152 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: Right And regardless of what that other person thinks of 153 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: you as a result of you not knowing this thing, 154 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: you're still walking away as a more well rounded or 155 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: more well informed person. And I think outside of just that, 156 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: pulling from from Nip a bit, you know, taking a 157 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: look at the circle of people that you surround yourself with, right, Like, 158 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: do they have things to teach you? Or are you 159 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: just staying around them because you know they make you 160 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: feel better about yourself, right, Like they stroke your ego 161 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: in some sort of way because you know, you feel 162 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: like you have some sort of leg up on them. Right. 163 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: It's the concept of being a big fish in a 164 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 1: little pond, you know, versus being a little fish in 165 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: a big pond. You know, eventually you begin to to 166 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,360 Speaker 1: outgrow your surroundings, and if you don't push yourself, you're 167 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: you're stunting your growth at some point in your life. 168 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: I mean, there's a reason why why someone like Steve 169 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: Jobs has a famous speech where he tells people to 170 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: stay foolish, right, It's because on the other side of 171 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: feeling foolish or embarrassed is a valuable lesson to be learned. 172 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: So to recap quickly, I mean, we've heard you know, 173 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: Nipsey at the peak of his career saying that he 174 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: was probably the dumbest person on his team, and him 175 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: recognizing the value in that being humble enough, checking his 176 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: ego at the door, and understanding that being the dumbest 177 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: person on his team meant that he would be learning 178 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: the most knowledge and be giving himself the best opportunity 179 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: to achieve greatness. Right at Pictitis said it himself man 180 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: like in these exact words. If you wish to improve, 181 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: be content to appear clueless or stupid. That is how 182 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: you learn. And even when I look back on my 183 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: own journey, one of the things that I am grateful 184 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: for is that I decided to be patient and take 185 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: the opportunity to learn from legends like those at the 186 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: Breakfast Club. And then when it was time, when I 187 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: learned all I could, I moved on. But I was 188 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: patient and understood that there was so much to be 189 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: learned as long as I checked my ego at the 190 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 1: door and waited for the right time. Man. Now, with 191 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: that said, thank y'all so much for checking out the 192 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: streets Stowick Pot cast. Do your best to apply these 193 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: concepts that you discussed today in your everyday life, and 194 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:12,239 Speaker 1: I'll catch you all ext time. The Street Stoke Podcast 195 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: is a production of I Hearts Michael Bura Podcast Network.